First experimental quantum simulation of genuine non-Abelian string breaking in an SU(2) pure gauge theory on a qudit trapped-ion computer, resolving oscillations and coherent breaking driven by plaquette interactions.
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Observation of glueball excitations and string breaking in a $2+1$D $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theory on a trapped-ion quantum computer
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abstract
A major goal of the quantum simulation of high-energy physics (HEP) is to probe real-time nonperturbative far-from-equilibrium quantum processes underlying phenomena such as hadronization in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The quantum simulation of the dynamics of confining strings and glueballs, both essential aspects of quark confinement, in a controllable first-principles way is an important step towards this goal. Here, we realize a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theory in $2+1$D with a tunable plaquette term on a \texttt{Quantinuum System Model H2} trapped-ion quantum computer. We implement a shallow depth-6 Trotter circuit on a $6 \times 5$ matter-site square lattice utilizing all $56$ available qubits to execute over $1000$ entangling gates. We prepare far-from-equilibrium initial string configurations that we quench across a range of parameters to observe rich dynamical phenomena, such as the formation of gauge-invariant closed-loop excitations reminiscent of glueballs in QCD and multi-order string breaking accompanied by spontaneous matter creation. We further demonstrate experimentally that the system displays genuine $2+1$D dynamics, as evidenced by string snapshots over time that cannot be trivially mapped to $1+1$D physics. Our results demonstrate digital quantum simulations of nonequilibrium dynamics in a higher-dimensional lattice gauge theory and provide an experimentally accessible setting for phenomena related to confinement physics.
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Bias in SMO-VQE can be estimated without extra measurements; a regularization method that mimics error accumulation while preserving unbiased estimates improves performance across system sizes and Hamiltonians.
Holographic Schwinger pair creation generates nonlocal magic for spacetime dimensions d>2, as shown by a non-flat entanglement spectrum that can be read from the probe brane free energy.
Deterministic QITE made gauge-invariant via commuting Pauli operators achieves relative error below 0.1 percent for ground-state preparation in 2+1D Z2 LGT on systems up to twelve plaquettes, as shown by tensor-network simulations benchmarked against DMRG.
New analytic and Monte Carlo-assisted method tightens energy-based boson truncation bounds, reducing volume dependence in (1+1)D scalar and (2+1)D U(1) gauge theories.
citing papers explorer
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Non-Abelian String-Breaking Dynamics on a Qudit Quantum Computer
First experimental quantum simulation of genuine non-Abelian string breaking in an SU(2) pure gauge theory on a qudit trapped-ion computer, resolving oscillations and coherent breaking driven by plaquette interactions.
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Bias Analysis and Regularization of Sequential Minimal Optimization in Variational Quantum Eigensolvers
Bias in SMO-VQE can be estimated without extra measurements; a regularization method that mimics error accumulation while preserving unbiased estimates improves performance across system sizes and Hamiltonians.
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The nonlocal magic of a holographic Schwinger pair
Holographic Schwinger pair creation generates nonlocal magic for spacetime dimensions d>2, as shown by a non-flat entanglement spectrum that can be read from the probe brane free energy.
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Ground state preparation in $(2+1)$-dimensional pure $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theory via deterministic quantum imaginary time evolution
Deterministic QITE made gauge-invariant via commuting Pauli operators achieves relative error below 0.1 percent for ground-state preparation in 2+1D Z2 LGT on systems up to twelve plaquettes, as shown by tensor-network simulations benchmarked against DMRG.
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Tightening energy-based boson truncation bound using Monte Carlo-assisted methods
New analytic and Monte Carlo-assisted method tightens energy-based boson truncation bounds, reducing volume dependence in (1+1)D scalar and (2+1)D U(1) gauge theories.
- Unified resonant-manifold framework for dynamical quantum phase transitions